4 ms·

Missing from the strategies for the first two (really all three): come from wealthy background.

bitexploder 9y ago
What is the bar for "wealthy background" and "founder". My parents clawed there way to what I would call middle class (most of the time). I am not a founder of a software product firm, but am a founder of a successful consulting firm. We are 4 years into it now. On the executive front, yes, you are more likely to reach that level of position having a "wealthy background" but there are plenty who don't. Your odds of becoming a moderately successful executive of a medium sized business coming from a middle class background seem dramatically better than winning the tech startup lottery. I dunno, I just think these categories are very broad and multi dimensional so that you can make decent arguments against the point that a wealthy background being required.
- xmonkee 9y ago
  >am a founder of a successful consulting firm I really want to take this path at some point. I don't feel like I fit into either of these categories very well and the idea of having my own consulting firm has always appealed to me. I don't know where to start. Can you share some knowledge or tell me where I can contact you? If you're in the Bay Area I'd love to buy you a coffee and pick your brains.
  - bitexploder 9y ago
    I could write a book about this. I am pretty easy to find. Send an email to info at carve|systems dot com (no pipe) and ask for bitexploder and we can take it from there.
leeoniya 9y ago
not really. my family moved to the states from moscow when i was 7. we spent all our money that we got from selling a crappy apt on the move itself. we lived on food stamps, had to learn english, my parents (both with technical university degrees) went to community college and worked low wage jobs to pay the rent, bills and tuition. we had a super old used ford that was rusting everywhere a vehicle can rust and the dollar store was where we went shopping. today, i'm somewhere between employee and executive [limited only by personal preference of work/life balance] thanks to my parents; my children will certainly have it easier than my folks or i ever did. but to say that it was because of some innate wealth misses the mark.
- didibus 9y ago
  > but to say that it was because of some innate wealth misses the mark I'm not sure it misses the mark. All data show that wealth carries over multiple generations. That doesn't mean that non wealthy can't make it, just that wealthiest will, on average or even probably some p95 and up metric. And wealth should be put into perspective, its often more to do with the surrounding education of the wealthy. If your surrounding growing up ran businesses of their own, knew how to manage people, understood finance, investments, calculating risks, knew about markets and business, had connections, that's a great environment to learn the same from. You mentioned both your parents had technical university degrees, so you had some advantage there. Everyone can give it a shot, we have equal opportunity, but not equal challenges to face. You making it out of less is double awesome to you, even if maybe you felt it was easy, dunno, its still a hard thing you did, harder then if you had come from a more supportive environment.
  - leeoniya 9y ago
    certainly i'm not saying that prior wealth does not play a major factor or isn't strongly correlated, but it is not a prerequisite by any stretch, which was my interpretation of the comment.
    - Akujin 9y ago
      I have the same background as you. Crimea, not Moscow. Americans will never understand. Our parents stood in breadlines. We are making six figures in America. It's not about wealth. It's about a culture that respects hard work, education, and opportunity.
      - leeoniya 9y ago
        > It's about a culture that respects hard work, education, and opportunity. 100% i was maybe 5 and remember very vividly standing in those same breadlines with them. about once a year we got to eat bananas, it was amazing. in america there's a walmart next door to a target next door to a whole foods or trader joes, and across the street there's a meijer next to jewel and a macys plus 3 footwear stores - all filled with stuff that never leaves the shelves. and that's just within this 3 mile radius! i don't want to describe it as amazing because it is incredibly wasteful, but holy hell! meanwhile, a large portion of the US population [that struggles to come to grips with basic economic principles] is paralyzed with fear of immigrants "stealing" jobs - usually jobs that don't even require a GED. a minimum-wage job is not a career and not meant to support a family; you're meant to grow out of it.
mwseibel 9y ago
Clearly most things are easier if you are wealthy but I know I lot of people from non-wealthy backgrounds who are successful founders, executives, and employees.
bluebird01 9y ago
seems like an overly simplistic conclusion. yes, wealth begets wealth, but to assume wealth is the only factor in outsized success in tech is a class based argument that doesn't add up.
- metalliqaz 9y ago
  I didn't say it was the only factor. It is strongly correlated, though. It's easier to focus on starting a company when you can stay on your parents' health insurance, for example.

What is the bar for "wealthy background" and "founder". My parents clawed there way to what I would call middle class (most of the time). I am not a founder of a software product firm, but am a founder of a successful consulting firm. We are 4 years into it now. On the executive front, yes, you are more likely to reach that level of position having a "wealthy background" but there are plenty who don't. Your odds of becoming a moderately successful executive of a medium sized business coming from a middle class background seem dramatically better than winning the tech startup lottery. I dunno, I just think these categories are very broad and multi dimensional so that you can make decent arguments against the point that a wealthy background being required.

xmonkee 9y ago
>am a founder of a successful consulting firm I really want to take this path at some point. I don't feel like I fit into either of these categories very well and the idea of having my own consulting firm has always appealed to me. I don't know where to start. Can you share some knowledge or tell me where I can contact you? If you're in the Bay Area I'd love to buy you a coffee and pick your brains.
- bitexploder 9y ago
  I could write a book about this. I am pretty easy to find. Send an email to info at carve|systems dot com (no pipe) and ask for bitexploder and we can take it from there.

leeoniya 9y ago

not really. my family moved to the states from moscow when i was 7. we spent all our money that we got from selling a crappy apt on the move itself. we lived on food stamps, had to learn english, my parents (both with technical university degrees) went to community college and worked low wage jobs to pay the rent, bills and tuition. we had a super old used ford that was rusting everywhere a vehicle can rust and the dollar store was where we went shopping. today, i'm somewhere between employee and executive [limited only by personal preference of work/life balance] thanks to my parents; my children will certainly have it easier than my folks or i ever did. but to say that it was because of some innate wealth misses the mark.

didibus 9y ago
> but to say that it was because of some innate wealth misses the mark I'm not sure it misses the mark. All data show that wealth carries over multiple generations. That doesn't mean that non wealthy can't make it, just that wealthiest will, on average or even probably some p95 and up metric. And wealth should be put into perspective, its often more to do with the surrounding education of the wealthy. If your surrounding growing up ran businesses of their own, knew how to manage people, understood finance, investments, calculating risks, knew about markets and business, had connections, that's a great environment to learn the same from. You mentioned both your parents had technical university degrees, so you had some advantage there. Everyone can give it a shot, we have equal opportunity, but not equal challenges to face. You making it out of less is double awesome to you, even if maybe you felt it was easy, dunno, its still a hard thing you did, harder then if you had come from a more supportive environment.
- leeoniya 9y ago
  certainly i'm not saying that prior wealth does not play a major factor or isn't strongly correlated, but it is not a prerequisite by any stretch, which was my interpretation of the comment.
  - Akujin 9y ago
    I have the same background as you. Crimea, not Moscow. Americans will never understand. Our parents stood in breadlines. We are making six figures in America. It's not about wealth. It's about a culture that respects hard work, education, and opportunity.
    - leeoniya 9y ago
      > It's about a culture that respects hard work, education, and opportunity. 100% i was maybe 5 and remember very vividly standing in those same breadlines with them. about once a year we got to eat bananas, it was amazing. in america there's a walmart next door to a target next door to a whole foods or trader joes, and across the street there's a meijer next to jewel and a macys plus 3 footwear stores - all filled with stuff that never leaves the shelves. and that's just within this 3 mile radius! i don't want to describe it as amazing because it is incredibly wasteful, but holy hell! meanwhile, a large portion of the US population [that struggles to come to grips with basic economic principles] is paralyzed with fear of immigrants "stealing" jobs - usually jobs that don't even require a GED. a minimum-wage job is not a career and not meant to support a family; you're meant to grow out of it.

mwseibel 9y ago

Clearly most things are easier if you are wealthy but I know I lot of people from non-wealthy backgrounds who are successful founders, executives, and employees.

bluebird01 9y ago

seems like an overly simplistic conclusion. yes, wealth begets wealth, but to assume wealth is the only factor in outsized success in tech is a class based argument that doesn't add up.

metalliqaz 9y ago
I didn't say it was the only factor. It is strongly correlated, though. It's easier to focus on starting a company when you can stay on your parents' health insurance, for example.